• By JORDAN BLUM
• Advocate Capitol News Bureau
• Published: Jul 16, 2009 - Page: 1A

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The flagship LSU campus is only planning to lay off 24 employees because of state budget cuts to colleges.

Another 176 vacant positions are also being axed, according to revised budget plans released Wednesday.

The campus has almost 3,300 employees. But nearly half could face furloughs — mandatory time off without pay.

The LSU Board of Supervisors meets today to approve or reject the budget plans submitted by the LSU System’s five academic campuses, medical schools, law school, biomedical research center and agricultural center.

Nearly 600 positions would be slashed systemwide, up from last week’s estimate of more than 400. Since then, the main LSU campus and the University of New Orleans submitted additional job vacancy eliminations.

LSU Chancellor Michael Martin had said last week he anticipated about 100 layoffs.

In the revised budget plan, Martin says the budget cut “effectively erases” the funding increase given to LSU two years ago.

The main campus is managing to only lay off 24 employees by implementing furlough plans for 1,700 employees. The move does not affect tenure-track faculty.

The Baton Rouge campus is coping with a nearly $20 million cut, about a 9 percent decrease in state funds. That does not count more than $8 million already slashed in January.

Gov. Bobby Jindal and the Legislature worked out a last-minute compromise that was finalized June 25 to limit the budget cuts so colleges could downsize more slowly, preparing for more budget reductions projected through 2012.

Martin, who proposed the furlough, has not seen eye-to-eye on the policy with LSU System President John Lombardi, who has called furloughs a quick fix that fails to solve long-term financial problems.

Lombardi has not openly rejected the furlough plan though and the Board of Supervisors will have the final say today. The LSU flagship is the only LSU campus opting for a widespread furlough plan.

“I’m studying it now,” said LSU Board Chairman Jim Roy on Wednesday when asked about the budget plans. “I’m doing my homework for tomorrow’s (today’s) test.”